Thursday, December 20, 2012

Italian wolves prefer pork to venison

Some European wolves have a distinct preference for wild boar over other prey, according to new research.

Scientists from Durham University, UK, in collaboration with the
University of Sassari in Italy, found that the diet of wolves was
consistently dominated by the consumption of wild boar which accounted
for about two thirds of total prey biomass, with roe deer accounting for
around a third.

The study analysed the remains of prey items in almost 2000 samples
of wolf dung over a nine year period and revealed that an increase in
roe deer in the wolf diet only occurred in years when boar densities
were very low. In years of high roe deer densities, the wolves still
preferred to catch wild boar.

The results are published in the journal PLOS ONE.

The research team related the prey remains in wolf dung to the
availability of possible prey in part of Tuscany, Italy - an area
recently colonised by wolves. The findings have implications for
wildlife conservation as the impact of changing predator numbers on prey
species is important for managing populations of both predators and
prey.

Lead author, Miranda Davis, from the School of Biological and
Biomedical Sciences at Durham University, said: "Our research
demonstrates a consistent selection for wild boar among wolves in the
study area, which could affect other prey species such as roe deer."

"Intriguingly, in other parts of Europe where red deer are also
available, wolves appear to prefer this prey to wild boar, suggesting
that they discriminate between different types of venison."

In Europe, the wolf (Canis lupis) is recovering from
centuries of persecution and the expansion of wolf populations has the
potential to change the ecology of communities of ungulates (hooved
animals) by exposing them to natural predation by wolves, according to
the researchers.

The preference for boar is in contrast to other areas of Europe
where wolves often avoid boar as prey. One factor may be the relatively
smaller size of Mediterranean boar, making them less dangerous to wolves
in Mediterranean regions, compared to the larger-sized boar that roam
other parts of Europe.
Co-author, Dr Stephen Willis, from the School of Biological and
Biomedical Sciences at Durham University, said: "Wolves were hunted to
extinction in the UK, probably by the end of the 17th century. Our
findings from Italy suggest that if they were reintroduced into an area
with a healthy ungulate population their impact on livestock could be
minimal."

Tuscany's woodlands support populations of both roe deer and wild
boar, and are also grazed by sheep, goats and cattle; however, wild
boar and roe deer made up over 95 per cent of wolf diet in the study
area, with very little evidence of livestock predation.

The scientists identified prey items from fragments of bones and
hair in the wolf dung collected in the region. The prey categories
included wild boar, roe deer, red deer, hare, small rodents, goats,
sheep and cattle.

For more than five years of the study, the percentage of wolf diet
made up of wild boar was more than twice that of roe deer. Other prey
represented only a very small proportion of the diet.

The researchers believe that further dietary studies are essential
for understanding the true impact of wolves on European wildlife over
time.

Co-author, Dr Phil Stephens, from the School of Biological and
Biomedical Sciences at Durham University added: "Wolves and brown bears
are gradually returning to their former strongholds in Europe.
Understanding the needs of these species, as well as their potential
impacts, is going to be fundamental to managing that welcome return."

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The project was part-funded by a Durham University Doctoral
Fellowship and the Regional Government of Tuscany and the Province of
Arezzo also provided logistical support throughout the study.

The film offers an abbreviated history of the relationship between wolves and people—told from the wolf’s perspective—from a time when they coexisted to an era in which people began to fear and exterminate the wolves.

The return of wolves to the northern Rocky Mountains has been called one of America’s greatest conservation stories. But wolves are facing new attacks by members of Congress who are gunning to remove Endangered Species Act protections before the species has recovered.

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Inescapably, the realization was being borne in upon my preconditioned mind that the centuries-old and universally accepted human concept of wolf character was a palpable lie... From this hour onward, I would go open-minded into the lupine world and learn to see and know the wolves, not for what they were supposed to be, but for what they actually were.

-Farley Mowat, Never Cry Wolf

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“If you look into the eyes of a wild wolf, there is something there more powerful than many humans can accept.” – Suzanne Stone